Animal Defenders International

Help build our rescued baboon haven!

Posted: 5 January 2018. Updated: 5 January 2018

When Bolivia banned the use of ALL animals in circuses, a world first, just one circus went animal free and surrendered their animals to ADI – four lions and a baboon called Tilin. We went on to rescue every circus animal in Bolivia, tracking down every circus that defied the law, saving 29 lions, monkeys, horses and a coati mundi – all documented in the award-winning film Lion Ark (now on DVD – available here).

Before ADI stepped in to save him, Tilin spent the first 17 years of his life alone, chained by the neck, in a cage on the back of a truck, next to a cage full of lions. We nursed Tilin back to health and then brought him to a new life at Lakeview Monkey Sanctuary in the UK – home to ADI’s rescued laboratory macaque monkeys Betty, Boo and Baloo – fondly known as “the 3Bs”.

Our first priority was to build a baboon unit to receive baboons – we did that with your help. Next came the greatest change in Tilin’s life with the rescue of Tina from the pet trade in Cyprus. She had been taken as a pet but as is so often the case, she became too big and strong to handle and her owner handed her over to a donkey sanctuary – with your help we brought her to join Tilin.

Since they were united, Tilin and Tina have been inseparable.

ADI’s rescue mission in Peru saw the rescue of over 100 animals including more monkeys and another bear from the most desperate circumstances last year, and of course the huge ongoing costs of our rescued lions. We have needed your help for these animals in dire straits - now help complete the final phase of our baboon haven for Tilin and Tina!

These are very strong, dextrous and extremely intelligent animals and so building suitable facilities is expensive. But with your help, these two loving baboons can have a woodland paradise. We are also upgrading our macaque monkey habitat. We must raise $45,000 / £35,000 to fund construction. Please donate today – without your support for this vital construction project, we simply will not be able to save more animals.